


Waiting For Tomorrow

by coralysendria



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Tomorrow People (1992)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-08
Updated: 2012-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:52:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/pseuds/coralysendria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Rose Tyler had been a Tomorrow Person?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting For Tomorrow

Being a shop girl, Rose Tyler had decided within ten minutes of beginning her job at Henrick's, was definitely _not_ how she wanted to spend her life...but she wasn't certain what she _did_ want to do. She thought about returning to school, but somehow just never got around to enrolling. Instead, she moved from day to boring day, week to ever more boring week, not even looking forward to her holidays because what was she going to do?

"You know," she said to her friend Jade one mellow golden afternoon, "I met this really drunk guy just after midnight at New Year's. He told me I was going to have a great year...but so far...."

Jade looked at Rose with a slight smile on her face. She tucked a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear, then spread her hands to encompass their surroundings. "Rose. Look at where you are."

Rose laughed. "I know, I know. I'm in a _spaceship_ buried under an island in the South Pacific." She caressed the ship's wall, causing it to sing. "And it's wonderful, it really is. I love being a Tomorrow Person, able to teleport anywhere in the world, and talk to any of you any time, but...I don't know. It's like I'm waiting for something, but I just don't know what." She shrugged.

Jade was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Foreknowledge isn't really one of my gifts," she said at last. "Have you talked to Ami? Maybe you really _are_ waiting for something."

Rose shook her head. "No. I haven't really said anything to any of the others." She liked Ami, but of all the Tomorrow People, she was closest to Jade. Until Rose faced that mugger a few weeks back and found herself suddenly plunged into the South Pacific, Jade, who was only six or so years older than she, had been the youngest of the Tomorrow People. Ami and Adam could be entirely too parental sometimes, while Megabyte was so impish that she was never quite sure where she stood with him, even though she usually gave him as good as she got. She was sometimes surprised that Jade and Megabyte were so close, but she had never asked why. Even among people who could speak mind to mind, some things remained private.

Jade reached over and patted Rose's hand. From her, the gesture didn't seem patronizing, as it might have from one of the others. "Things will get better. You'll see."

* * * 

Rose couldn't believe she had actually run all the way home with a plastic arm in her hand. Hell, she couldn't quite believe _any_ of what had happened to her that evening. Moving shop dummies? That crazy bloke who called himself the Doctor and who had apparently blown up Henrick's? (And there were both good and bad things about that.) Yet she couldn't deny the feeling of utter terror and helplessness she'd felt right before his hand closed on hers and he told her to run. She'd been so frightened she had forgotten not only how to teleport but that she even _could_. Then she'd been too busy running to do so.

She couldn't have run all the way home. She must have teleported at least part of the way.

Rose watched her boyfriend Mickey walk out the door with the plastic arm; she'd asked him to dispose of it for her. Good old Mickey; he was good for a laugh. She turned back to the TV; in the other room, she could hear her mother's voice on the phone. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

_*Rose?*_ The voice sounded in her mind, preceded by a soft, vague "touch," the mental equivalent of a polite cough.

_*Hi, Ami.*_ Rose didn't take her eyes off the news.

_*I heard about Henrick's. Are you all right?*_

_*Yeah, fine. I wasn't even there when it happened; I'd just left.*_

_*But there's something funny....*_ Ami said, her mental voice trailing off.

_*Yeah, a bit,*_ Rose admitted. _*But I want to think about it before I talk about it.*_

_*Okay. If you're sure?*_

Rose nodded; though Ami wouldn't see it, she'd feel Rose's assent. _*Thanks for checking up on me, though.*_

She felt Ami's answering smile. _*We watch out for one another, Rose. I'll let the others know you're all right so they won't pester you.*_

* * * 

Rose couldn't quite believe she was having this conversation. The Doctor had, incredibly, shown up at her flat, claiming to be tracking the plastic arm that she'd brought home with her the previous night. She had thought the Doctor had been horsing around with the arm around his throat -- after all, hadn't Mickey played exactly the same joke? But then the arm flew at her and grabbed her face. She knew, now, that at least some of what the madman had been telling her was true. But _living plastic_? Controlled by thought? She knew a little bit about thought energy, after all, and she was pretty certain that none of the Tomorrow People could control inert substances. Although...there _was_ telekinesis. Could that be what the Doctor meant? But she didn't have a chance to ask, as he racketed on.

"Do you believe me?"

"No," she answered immediately.

"But you're still listening."

She stopped suddenly; he went on a few paces before he realized she wasn't with him. "Really, though, Doctor, tell me. Who are you?"

He turned back, and there was something deep and infinitely weary in his eyes. "Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" He walked back to her, and she resisted the sudden urge to run.

"It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it."

He reached out and took her hand. A slight shock flowed through her from the contact; but the Doctor didn't seem to notice; he just went on speaking, his voice grave. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it."

Rose felt a sudden dizziness. His words released something in her mind, some door that she had held closed, and she, too, seemed to feel that rushing speed. She clutched the Doctor's hand and prayed she wouldn't fall.

"We're falling through space, you and me," he continued, as if echoing her silent prayer. "Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go...." He dropped her hand and she almost staggered as the door in her mind swung closed.

"That's who I am. Now forget me, Rose Tyler." He plucked the plastic arm out of her nerveless grasp and waved it at her. "Go home."

Rose stood there, watching him walk off, then turned away herself, her mind in turmoil. She became aware of a grating, whooshing noise, and ran back, but the Doctor was gone.

She turned to walk back home, then thought better of it. Her mother would never understand; hell, she hadn't even been able to tell her mother yet about breaking out and becoming a Tomorrow Person. There was no way Jackie Tyler would understand the feelings that the Doctor evoked in her daughter. Mickey, then? No. Again, she hadn't even been able to talk to Mickey about the Tomorrow People.

She almost laughed at herself at how long it could sometimes take her to arrive at the obvious conclusion. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she teleported.

Rose had barely settled herself in one of the curving structures that formed the Ship's walls when Jade arrived, which was exactly as Rose had expected. What she hadn't expected was for Adam, Megabyte, and Ami to follow within milliseconds. She blinked as the rest of the Tomorrow People crowded around, then Jade was kneeling in front of her.

"Rose? What is it?"

"We could all feel it, Rose," Adam said. He pushed dark hair away from his eyes and crouched nearby.

"I don't know," Rose said. She looked away from her friends, but she could still feel them there, waiting patiently for her to speak.

"You can tell us about it," Ami added. She remained standing, worry evident by the crinkle between her dark eyes. "You know we're here for you."

Megabyte said nothing, but flopped bonelessly nearby. The Ship's interior lights sparked golden highlights in his flaming hair.

"No." Rose shook her head. "I meant that I don't know how to tell you. I'm not sure..." 

"Tell us about Henrick's," Jade suggested. "Something happened last night, before the explosion."

"Yeah, that's when it started," Rose agreed. With a starting place, she found the words pouring out of her. The others let her talk without interruption, though she could feel their questions piling up. Finally she ran out of words. "I just don't know what to think. It's like he's part fairy godmother, part Prince Charming, and part Big Bad Wolf, all rolled up into one."

Ami shivered suddenly.

Adam noticed. "Ami? What is it? Did you see something?"

She shook her head. "No not really. It was just a flash. I don't know. It's gone again, whatever it was."

"Someone walked over your grave probably." Megabyte chuckled at his own lame joke. 

"It's no laughing matter, Megabyte." Adam's tone was half affectionate, half reproving. "This guy sounds dangerous."

"I wish there was some way to find out who he really is," Rose said.

"Well, there might be," Adam said. "What more can you tell us about him?"

Rose shook her head. "There isn't anything more. I told you everything."

"Mind merge?" Megabyte asked. 

"Mind merge," Adam confirmed. "C'mere, Rose. Stand here and put your hands up like this. No, don't touch mine. Yes, that's it. Guys?" Megabyte, Ami and Jade joined Adam and Rose, forming a circle, their palms out and not quite touching.

_*Now, Rose,*_ Adam said silently. _*Relax your thoughts. Open your mind to us and show us this Doctor. Let us see everything you've just told us.*_

Rose did as Adam bade; images flashed through her mind, memories amplified and as strong as when she had first experienced them...and yet somehow, at the same time, remote, as though they were happening to someone else. 

_*Does anyone recognize him? Have you seen him before?*_ Adam asked. They studied the image of the Doctor, but none of them knew him.

_*What's this?*_ Jade asked. She projected the image of a large box-shaped object, painted blue. 

_*I saw that!*_ Rose said. _*I ran right past it last night, and then it was there at the park this afternoon...*_

_*...and then it wasn't,*_ Megabyte finished. _*How does a big blue box vanish?*_

_*He's an alien,*_ Adam said suddenly. _*He must be. Think about what he said about being able to feel the world spinning. He's not one of us; we'd know it if he was. The Ship would know him, and she doesn't. He must be an alien.*_

_*So why's he here?*_ Rose asked.

_*He told you,*_ Ami said. _*He was just passing through.*_

_*And he stopped to save the world from living plastic creatures?*_ Rose couldn't quite keep the sarcasm out of her tone. _*And blow up my job?*_

_*"Relay device in the roof,"*_ Jade quoted. _*He told you everything, Rose, he really did. Well, except who he really is, of course.*_

_*And how are we going to find that out, then?*_

"Oh, that's the easy part," Megabyte said aloud, putting his hands down and dropping out of the merge. "We'll ask my dad."

* * *

An insistent rapping brought Mickey to the door, but when he opened it, there was no one there. Puzzled, he looked out, but saw nothing. He stepped outside and looked about. At the corner, a plastic hand beckoned to him.

"Oh, we're back to that, are we?" he called. "Very funny, Rose!"

The hand continued to beckon. Mickey shook his head, but followed the beckoning hand to the corner, a slight smile on his face. He stepped into the alley...and something hot and stinking grabbed him and thrust him into darkness.

* * *

"What's WorldEx?" Rose studied the large brick building she, Adam and Megabyte stood in front of.

"It's a security firm," Adam answered. "Megabyte's dad runs it, and he's always good for information. His people keep track of some of the weird stuff."

"What, aliens?" Rose threw a laughing glance at Megabyte, but was startled to see an unwontedly serious expression on his face.

He nodded. "Yeah, sometimes." He looked at Adam, and Rose could tell that they were both remembering something that worried Megabyte. Then he grinned and the moment passed. "Just don't believe him if he tries to tell you that _I'm_ an alien!"

No one seemed to take any notice of them as they walked into the building. _*I thought this was a security firm?*_ Rose said. _*Do they always just let people walk in?*_

_*They do when one of them is the boss's son,*_ Adam replied.

_*Besides,*_ Megabyte added, _*they know us.*_

They stepped into an elevator and were disgorged into a lobby-like waiting area on an upper floor. Rose was impressed by the gleaming glass and white railings, but it turned out that the view was merely into the interior atrium of the WorldEx building. Facing the elevator was a reception desk. "Good afternoon, Megabyte, Adam," the woman at the desk said brightly. "If you'll have seats, the general will be with you shortly."

"Thank you," Megabyte said. He led the way to a group of chairs near the glass wall. "Might as well take a load off, you two. 'Shortly' means half an hour at least."

"Your dad's a general?" Rose asked.

Megabyte shrugged. "Ever since I was a kid."

"What kind of general?"

"The kind who is always bailing his son out of trouble."

"Wow, Dad, that was quick," Megabyte said as he and Adam got to their feet. Rose followed.

"Yeah, well, you caught me on a slow day," Megabyte's dad answered. 

He was not at all what Rose expected. He wasn't wearing a uniform of any kind; instead, he was wearing dark trousers and a button-down shirt with an open collar; she suspected that the jacket and tie would be found slung over the back of a chair in his office. He was much younger than she had expected, also; he looked barely older than Megabyte, and far too young to be a general. His dark hair was straight, with just a touch of receding hairline, and his eyes were kind. He had to be older than her mother, but he looked ten years younger. He smiled when he noticed her studying him.

"And who is this? A new recruit?"

"This is Rose Tyler, Dad," Megabyte answered, "and, yeah, she's new."

He stuck out his hand. "Bill Damon." She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Rose. Come on into the office, you lot."

The general's office was smaller and cozier than the expansive glass lobby areas of the WorldEx building; it contained the general's desk (and his jacket was slung over the chair), a ficus plant, some filing cabinets, a comfortable-looking couch, and a couple of guest chairs. Instead of sitting behind the desk, General Damon closed the door, then turned one of the guest chairs toward the couch. "Sit down, guys, and tell me what you need."

"What, you think we can't just come for a visit?" Megabyte jibed.

General Damon leveled a stare at his son and waited. Megabyte caved, his hands held up; they sorted themselves into seats, Adam in the other chair and Rose and Megabyte on opposite ends of the couch. 

"All right, all right. We do need some help, Dad, but it's nothing serious. We hope."

"Go on, Rose," Adam said. "Tell General Damon what you told us." _*You can tell him everything,*_ he added silently. _*He has known about us from the beginning, from even before Megabyte broke out.*_

And so Rose found herself telling her story for the second time that day. As she did, she watched the general; he listened attentively and didn't once interrupt. He believed her, she realized. When she finished, he rose from his chair and paced a little.

"The Doctor," he said, almost to himself. "He called himself the Doctor. And you saw the police box?" He turned back to her.

Rose nodded. "Yeah. What's a police box?"

"They were sort of like telephone booths for the police," General Damon answered absently, his mind clearly on Rose's story, rather than her question. "People could call for police help using the phone, and the police could stash crooks inside until a ride could be summoned to take them back to the station.

"This is bad," he continued. "If the Doctor's _here_ , then something is really wrong."

Adam and Megabyte exchanged alarmed glances. "What do you mean 'wrong'?" Megabyte demanded. "And what do you know about this Doctor character, Dad? Tell us."

General Damon looked up. "I don't know that much, really, Megabyte; the Doctor is more of a UNIT and Torchwood problem. I do know that whenever he appears, though, trouble -- bad trouble -- isn't too far behind."

"So these living plastic things? They're real?" Rose asked.

General Damon nodded. "I'd have to say that they are," he answered, "but I've never heard of them before. I'd better go talk to some people," he said. "I'll be gone for, oh, say, fifteen minutes." He glanced at Megabyte. "UNIT. And Torchwood." Without another word, he left the office.

"What was that all about?" Rose asked.

Megabyte moved around behind his father's desk and sat down at the computer. "That was Dad code for 'you'll find the information you're looking for in the computers of UNIT and Torchwood, but you'll have to hack them and I can't be party to that, so I'm conveniently leaving you alone in my office with my computer turned on' and...I'm in." Megabyte's eyes flicked rapidly over the information.

"Do you need a thumb drive or something?" Rose asked. 

"Nah," Adam said. "Megabyte didn't earn his nickname for nothing."

"What's UNIT and Torchwood?"

"They're exactly the types we don't want to get involved with," Adam said. "If you do ever find yourself having to be involved with them, UNIT is more aboveboard than Torchwood. UNIT's mostly straight-up military types, and you can deal with them. Torchwood is...well, they're sneaky, and they don't care if people get hurt so long as whatever they want to accomplish gets done. They seem pleasanter on the surface, but it's all surface. Best advice: stay away from them both."

"Okay, done." Megabyte's fingers danced on the keyboard and he got up from behind the desk. "Information retrieved, and footsteps erased. Not even Torchwood is going to find any trace of me, despite all their trying."

"You've done this before, then," Rose observed dryly.

"No, of course not," Megabyte answered in a voice that indicated exactly the opposite.

By the time General Damon returned to his office, there was no sign that any of the three of them had ever moved. He sat down again and cast a worried eye on them. "I know it's pointless telling you all this, but I'd prefer it if you weren't involved in this."

"But we're already involved," Rose protested. "These things came after me in my home."

"I know, I know," General Damon said. "Which is why I said it was pointless. I know from experience that once the Tomorrow People get into something, they don't let it go again." His tone was wry, but his expression was worried. "I made a call to a fellow I know at UNIT. He didn't know that the Doctor was back, but he actually had some experience with this living plastic stuff. 'Autons,' he called them. Said he'd seen them a long, long time ago, and he claims that the Doctor was the one who got rid of them."

"What are they, then?"

General Damon shrugged. "They're exactly what the Doctor told you they were: living plastic organisms. They're animated and controlled by the Nestene Consciousness, which has tried to invade Earth twice before -- and been stopped by the Doctor both times."

"Great, then," Megabyte said. "We can let him handle it."

"That would be best," General Damon agreed.

"What is it, General?" Adam asked, staring at Megabyte's dad. "What is it that you're not telling us?"

General Damon's mouth twisted and he looked down. 

"Dad," Megabyte started, his tone exasperated, "we're not kids, anymore."

General Damon looked up. "You were never kids even when you _were_ kids," he said. "My friend also said that when the Doctor's around, you have to be careful. Very, very careful. When the Doctor's around, people die."

* * *

Back at the Ship, Ami and Jade were waiting for them, nestled into the curving walls, drinks in their hands. Rose looked around at the alien architecture. During the day, when the sun filtered through the seawater and refracted through the windows, the light glimmered on the curving walls. It was beautiful, restful, cool and welcoming. Right now, though...it was midafternoon in London, but it was before dawn on the island, and the sea outside the windows was dark, the Ship only dimly lit by its own internal lights. She found it suddenly oppressive and rubbed her arms as though to ward off a chill. "Can we go up to the beach?" she asked.

The others shared a glance, but agreed. There were two ways to get up to the beach: through the exit tunnels (what Megabyte called "the launch tubes" for their habit of depositing people in a heap some yards from the Ship), or by teleportation. Which they used on any given day depended on how dignified they were feeling. Rose chose to teleport, rematerializing on the beach next to Adam's tent, a relic of a time many years ago when Adam mostly lived on the island. Ami and Jade likewise teleported, but Adam and Megabyte both used the launch tubes. As they exited the ship, Adam performed a graceful flip and landed on his feet, but Megabyte ended up sprawled out on the sand.

"I always wanted to be a human canonball," he grumbled as Adam gave him a hand up.

Rose smiled; she recognized Megabyte's attempt to cheer her up, and was grateful for it. "I always thought of you more as a clown."

He clutched his chest and staggered melodramatically. "A hit!"

The others grinned. "All right, you two," Adam said. He glanced at the sky, gauging the local time. "Let's build a fire; that'll warm you up, Rose."

Since Adam kept a cache of firewood near the tent; a fire was quickly started. As they sat around it, Rose did begin to warm up, and some of the anxiety tightening her chest eased. The sky began, imperceptibly at first, to lighten to the east.

Adam related to Ami and Jade what they had learned from General Damon while Rose listened thoughtfully. When he finished, it was Megabyte's turn.

"Both UNIT and Torchwood have extensive files on this guy," he said, "but they seem to see him in entirely different ways. He has worked for UNIT in the past as a scientific advisor, and he's still 'employed' by them." He crooked his fingers in the air to indicate quotation marks. "But they don't have a real name for him, nor do they have an address. They call him -- believe it or not -- John Smith."

"Are you serious?" Ami's exclamation of incredulity was echoed by Jade. Rose shook her head.

Megabyte shrugged. "Yeah. John Smith. Go figure. They admit that he's an alien, though I did have to dig a bit to find it. His home planet is called Gallifrey, and that box of his is apparently a space ship of some sort."

"And Torchwood?" Jade asked, with a distinct tone of distaste, an attitude which, after Adam's warning, Rose was not surprised to find that the others seemed to share, but she didn't have a chance to ask about it.

"Torchwood seems to think that the Doctor is an alien menace," Megabyte said. "They have detailed files on him, more than I could access in the amount of time I had. But they classify him as extremely dangerous."

"Well, we all know how narrow-minded Torchwood is," Ami said. "I would guess that if he worked for UNIT, it's safe to trust him. Besides -- and we all seem to be forgetting this -- he did save Rose from these Autons. Twice."

Rose nodded. "Yeah, he did." The sun suddenly burst above the eastern horizon. Rose looked at her watch. "I have to go! I'm supposed to meet Mickey!" She jumped to her feet.

"Rose." Ami frowned. "Be careful, all right?"

"It's just Mickey. It's not like I'm going to see this Doctor guy again. It'll be fine, Ami. Don't worry." She teleported.

Ami watched the space where she had been for a few seconds. 

"Ami?" Jade said, touching her arm. "What is it?"

"She will see the Doctor again," Ami said. "Soon. And we won't be able to help her."

"There's one more thing, guys," Megabyte said. He held up his hands; the others moved into the merge. _*This is Torchwood's first recorded image of the Doctor.*_ He projected the sketched image of a handsome man with thin features and lots of dark hair into their minds.

_*That's not the same man as Rose met,*_ Jade observed.

_*Torchwood's records insist that it is,*_ Megabyte answered. _*He was knighted by Queen Victoria at Torchwood House -- the earliest home of the Torchwood Institute -- in 1879. Knighted with him was his companion, a young woman in odd dress named Rose.*_

_*Coincidence,*_ Ami said, though her tone indicated that she didn't quite believe that.

_*This is a sketch of the Doctor's companion,*_ Megabyte said. There was no mistake. Her hair was shorter, but it was definitely Rose Tyler.

"What do we do?" Jade asked, after the initial shocked silence. "Do we tell her?"

"Should we?" Adam asked. "Even though it supposedly occurred in 1879, it's obviously in Rose's future."

Megabyte bit his lip. "There's something I didn't mention before," he said at last. "Both Torchwood and UNIT agree that this Doctor is a time traveler."

"So somehow, Rose is going to end up traveling through time with him?" In the early morning light, Jade looked worried, and, momentarily, as young as she had the day Adam, Ami and Megabyte had first met her.

"He's important," Ami said firmly. "Very important to Rose. It's like she's been waiting for him."

At that, Jade nodded. "Yes. Rose and I talked about the possibility that she was waiting for something, just yesterday. I thought she should talk to you, in fact," she said to Ami.

"He'll change her life. I felt it yesterday, and I _know_ it now. We can't interfere. We mustn't." Ami looked around the circle at the other Tomorrow People. One by one, they nodded assent. 

"Mind you, that doesn't mean we can't _help_. If she needs it," Adam said.

* * *

"Wahey," Mickey greeted Rose when she knocked on his door. "There's my woman!"

"Hey," she said. "Ya wanna go out? Pizza? Or Chinese?"

"Pizza!" Mickey exclaimed. "P-p-p-p-izzaaa!" 

It was a sign of Rose's distraction that she noticed neither the odd plasticity of Mickey's complexion, nor his behavior. 

They drove to their usual restaurant in silence, and it was only when they were seated, that Rose finally spoke. "Mickey, there's something that I have to tell you. It's going to be kinda hard for you to believe, but you have to trust me, okay?"

"Is it about the Doctor?" Mickey asked brightly.

"Yeah," Rose said. "Wait, how did--"

"Champagne?" The waiter appeared at the table as if he had teleported there; certainly they'd never had such fast service before.

"We didn't order any," Mickey said. He took Rose's hand. "You can tell me anything, sweetheart, sugar, babe, sweetheart." He gave her a broad smile. "Anything."

"I didn't think I said anything to you about the Doctor," Rose said to Mickey, uncertainly.

The waiter was now at Rose's side. "Madam. Your champagne."

"It's not ours," Rose said, without looking at him, her attention focused on her boyfriend, who, she was beginning to see was not himself. "Mickey what is it? What's wrong?"

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" Mickey asked.

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" the waiter asked impatiently.

Which was when both Mickey and Rose realized that it wasn't a waiter at their side. Rose later remembered the next several minutes in a chaotic jumble of images, because what came next changed her life, just as Ami had predicted.

* * *

Sitting on the beach as the tropical day grew older and warmer around them, Ami, Megabyte, Adam, and Jade maintained their merge.

 _*There,*_ Ami said, as they picked up a feeling of panic from Rose. _*It's starting.*_

_*It started at Henrick's,*_ Jade corrected her.

_*Should we go?*_ Megabyte asked.

_*Not to Rose, I don't think,*_ Adam said. _*I don't think she truly needs us.*_

_*No,*_ Ami asserted. _*She'll be fine.*_

Their merge was interrupted by an odd buzzing noise. Megabyte started, then laughed shakily. "It's my cell," he said, dropping out of the merge. He pulled out his phone and poked at it, then frowned. "Text from my dad. There's trouble in London."

"We can't do anything for Rose," Adam said, "but if your dad is right, other people are in danger. Let's go."

A moment later, the beach was empty, and no one saw the lights running up the Ship's unburied fin.

* * *

In the Doctor's company, Rose found herself under the London Eye, face to...blob with the Nestene Consciousness. It was nothing she could ever have pictured, a viscous liquid in all the shades of fire in a great vat. Mickey -- the real Mickey, not an Auton -- clung to her now; they'd kept him alive in order to maintain the Auton; had only grabbed him to begin with because he'd touched the arm -- as had Rose herself. Below, on a ledge above the vat, the Doctor was attempting to negotiate with the Nestene.

Unfortunately, the guards, a pair of Autons much like those that had first attacked Rose, had grabbed the Doctor and found the vial of anti-plastic that he had tucked into his jacket pocket. The negotiations abruptly took a turn for the worse.

"That was just insurance," the Doctor cried. "I wasn't going to _use_ it!"

In that instant, Rose understood something about the Doctor. Like the Tomorrow People, he would do his best to talk or trick his way out of a violent confrontation. Unlike the Tomorrow People, however, he was perfectly able and willing to kill if necessary. He might be humanity's self-appointed guardian, but his hands were stained with blood. Rose shivered, as she remembered her words to her friends. Had it truly been only this morning? _It's like he's part fairy godmother, part Prince Charming, and part Big Bad Wolf, all rolled up into one...._

Below her, the Doctor was yelling for her to run. "It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!"

* * *

The Tomorrow People materialized in a closet in the dark; this tiny room in WorldEx's headquarters had been set aside for their use, but only in an emergency. Movement triggered a sensor, lights came on, and security cameras in the hallway were deactivated. Megabyte moved to the door and entered a code into the keypad; the door opened, and they spilled out. General Damon was waiting for them.

"The Autons are attacking," he said without preamble. "Shop dummies all over the place have come to life and are attacking people. There have been reports of deaths. The Nestenes control them by telepathic means. Can you block their control?"

"Hi, Dad, nice to see you, too," Megabyte said -- more out of habit, than anything, as he did understand the urgency of the situation.

General Damon's annoyed response -- "Not now, Megabyte." -- was also mainly habit.

Adam looked at the others. "We can try. We should probably go to the roof. Less thought-clutter there."

"All right. We think the Doctor is with the Nestenes, but we don't know for sure."

"He is," Jade said. "Rose is with him."

General Damon nodded. "Is there anything she can do? Can she attack the Nestene directly?"

"Dad, Rose is one of us. We can't kill. You know that." 

General Damon's eyes narrowed. "Fine, then. We go to Plan B; if you can find them and block their control, we'll send in the cavalry." He turned and headed for the stairs. 

"We'll take the quick way, General," Adam called; when Damon turned around, the hallway was empty. "Oh, sure, couldn't take me with you?" He turned back toward the fire exit and the stairs.

On the roof, the Tomorrow People fell instantly into rapport, as they stood in a circle, hand not quite to hand. They reached out with their combined powers...and were knocked out of the merge and off their feet by the strength of the telepathic signal the Nestene Consciousness was projecting.

General Damon burst out of the fire exit to find the four of them lying on floor, dazed, and barely moving.

* * *

The door of the Doctor's TARDIS was locked. Rose banged her hand against it, but couldn't open it. She had seen the interior, though; could she teleport inside? She tried, but as in Henrick's, she found herself unable. Was it the ship, or was it something else? Well, the Doctor had a key, didn't he? If the TARDIS was preventing her entry, she could teleport to him, teleport him back to the ship and he could simply use his key.

She straightened, and stepped away from panic-stricken, clinging Mickey. She closed her eyes, the better to concentrate...and found that the signal broadcast by the Nestene Consciousness was preventing her from teleporting.

"Dammit," she cried. She looked back at the Doctor, who was, surprisingly, watching her, even as he struggled with the Autons holding him prisoner. And then her gaze was drawn to a length of chain. She followed it with her eyes. She'd only been a Tomorrow Person for a couple of months, and when that failed her, she had only herself to fall back on. She grabbed a fire axe and started hacking at the chain. "I've no A levels," she said to herself -- or maybe to Mickey -- as she swung the axe, "no job, no future. But I'll tell you what I have got: Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team. I got the bronze!" 

She launched herself into the air, swinging on the chain toward the Doctor. She kicked out at the Autons holding him and they tumbled into the vat holding the Nestene Consciousness. Unfortunately for it, the vial of anti-plastic also flew into the vat. The Doctor caught Rose, and they ran for the TARDIS as the Consciousness roared in pain...and started to explode.

* * *

On the roof of the WorldEx building, General Damon knelt next to his son. "Megabyte. Megabyte, are you okay?"

Megabyte shook his head. "What? Oh, yeah, Dad. I'm all right. You guys okay?"

Adam blinked rapidly while Ami closed her eyes and massaged her forehead. Jade stared off toward the London Eye. "Yeah," Adam said. "I think we're okay."

"What happened?" General Damon demanded.

"It's _really_ strong," Megabyte said. "It's stronger than we are."

"Maybe if we go back to the Ship," Ami suggested. "Maybe she can help."

"It's worth a try," Adam said. "C'mon, guys."

"No," Jade said, still staring at the great Ferris wheel. "Wait." She cocked her head as if listening. "Do you hear? It's dying."

General Damon watched the other Tomorrow People's faces go slightly blank, as they, too, tentatively opened their minds.

One of the general's aides ran out onto the roof. "General! They've stopped! The Autons are just falling apart all over the place." He listened to a radio. "UNIT is moving in and cleaning up."

Damon smiled tiredly. "Good news. Thanks." The aide nodded and went back inside and the general sagged down onto the rooftop. "Are you guys really all right? What about Rose?"

Jade "listened" some more. "He's taking her back to the estate," she reported. "He's offering to take her with him...."

* * *

Rose's heart leaped, but then Mickey's arms tightened around her legs. "Yeah," she found herself saying, "I can't...."

The Doctor listened to her excuses, excuses which sounded lame even to herself. "Okay. See you around." He backed into the TARDIS without taking his eyes off her until the door closed between them. The police box disappeared with a grating whoosh. Wind whipped her hair. She stared into the empty space, feeling as though she had lost something precious.

She became aware of the other Tomorrow People in the back of her mind, listening, almost holding their breaths. _*Guys? What is it?*_

And then the wind was blowing again, and the ship rematerialized. Her heart lifted. The door opened and the Doctor stuck his head out. "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?" He moved away from the door, allowing the warm golden light to stream forth tantalizingly.

The Tomorrow People were still in the back of her mind. _*Go, Rose,*_ Jade urged. _*This is what you've been waiting for. Go!*_

Rose's reply wasn't in words, but a pulse of thanks, and love sent back along the link to her other family.

She looked down at Mickey, suddenly seeing him as so terribly small and limited, and knowing that she wanted so much more. "Thanks," she said.

"Thanks for what?"

"Exactly," Rose replied. And then she was running toward the light, the TARDIS singing a welcome in her mind.

**Author's Note:**

> This story began as an experiment, to see how "Rose" would have been different -- and how it might have been the same -- if Rose Tyler had become a Tomorrow Person shortly before meeting the Doctor.
> 
> I haven't decided whether or not to tamper with more episodes....
> 
> All episode dialogue comes from Doctor Who 2005+ Transcripts and my not-so-capacious memory.
> 
> If my math is correct, Rose is only five or six years younger than Jade, who is probably five or six years younger than Megabyte, Adam and Ami; if she can fit in with a 900-year-old Time Lord, people who are her peers should be no problem.


End file.
